Rotors for impelling and/or breaking up materials



May 24, 1955 E. J. CHARLTON r 2,709,947

ROTQRS FQR IMFELLING AND/OR BREAKING UP Filed Nov. 16, 1951 Zhweutor 8 l atented May 24, Hi5? ROTORS FOR DVIPELLING AND/R BREAKING UP MATERIALS Edward J. Charlton, Coatesville, Pa., assignor to Lukens Steel Company, Coatesville, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application November 16, 1951, Serial No. 256,672 12 Claims. (Cl. 241-197) This invention relates to rotors for impelling and/or breaking up materials, and is especially useful in equipment for breaking up lump solids by high-speed impact therewith, and in the preferred embodiment of the invention it will be herein disclosed as used in a machine for breaking up or disintegrating rocks as picked up by the machine in fields undergoing treatment for agricultural purposesalthough it should be understood that the invention is readily adaptable to a wide variety of impelling, beating, breaking, and pulverizing operations. =-1

Fundamentally, it is an object of the invention to simplify, cheapen and improve the manufacture, construction and operation of rotors of the character referred to.

In accomplishing the foregoing general object, the invention contemplates the production of a rotor suitable for high-speed operation with safety; increasing the useful life of wearing parts of the rotor; simplifying the replaceability of such parts as are subject to wear; facilitating and reducing the cost of manufacture of such rotors by utilizing ordinary and readily available materials and I shapes for substantial parts of the rotor and coordinating therewith, in a novel and highly advantageous manner, certain special replaceable parts including certain wearing elements and positioning and tightening means therefor.

More specifically, the invention contemplates a rotor between the arm structure and the bat means and adjustable in a plane substantially perpendicular to the action of centrifugal force on the rotor.

Other objects of the invention include the utilization of the replaceable bat member as a means for shielding the main arm member from excessive contact or impact with the materials being treated; the configuration of the bat member to interlock with the arm member not only as against centrifugal force but actually by the utilization of such force, and also as against dislodgment in a plurality of directions relative to said arm; and the coordination of the bat, the arm and the wedge mechanism in such manner that when the latter is in place the bat and arm are in effect a single unified structure.

How the foregoing objects and advantages, together with others hereinafter mentioned and/or evident to those skilled in the art, are achieved by the present invention will be clear from the following description, when taken together with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through a rotor chamber of an agricultural stone disintegrator, showing the present preferred embodiment of the improved rotor of my invention, in elevation except for the rotor shaft, which is in section;

Figure 2 is an irregular vertical sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of the rotor, taken on the line 3--3 of Figure 2, showing the rotor shaft, one complete rotor arm and bat assembly on said shaft, and a portion of a second arm;

Figure 4 is a trailing face view of one complete rotor arm member of the rotor of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a rear face view of the hat of the present invention, that is, a view showing the face which abuts the arm and the lugs which interlock with it, one of which is also adapted to engage with the wedging mechanism; and

I Figure 6 is an inner and elevational view of the bat.

As seen in Figures 1 and 2, the rotor of the present invention (generally designated R) is well adapted to be employed within the disintegrator housing H of an agricultural stone breaker of known type, for example of the type shown in the copending application of Martin H. Joyce, In, No. 220,384, filed April 11, 1951. Such a machine may deliver materials to the high-speed rotor R-whicl1 for example may be of 36 inches diameter, turning at 3000 R. P. M.by means of a feeding impeller (not shown) and a feed passageway F. The housing H preferably has a peripheral discharge passage D.

Turning now to Figures 3 to 6, it will be seen that my improved rotor comprises a drive shaft rotatable in the direction of the arrow A, a pair of arms 7, breaker bats 8 (one on each arm), and wedges 9; all of these parts being of novel configuration, with the exception of course of the shaft.

In the preferred embodiment, one face-in this case the trailing face 11-of each arm member 7 abuts the corresponding face of the second arm of a pair, and such face of each arm has a semi-cylindrical groove 11 therein adapted to fit the shaft, so that the plane of abutment 11a of said arms is on a diameter of the shaft, so that the centrifugal load on the arms is transferred to the shaft in substantially direct shear. Torsionally, the arms are interlocked with the shaft by means of the key 12, and they are gripped in place on the shaft by the several bolts and nuts 13 and 14, (preferably two pairs of each, as shown in Fig. 2).

Each arm 7 is desirably cut from a slab of heavy steel plate, for example of an alloy between S. A. E. 1035 and S. A. E. 1045, rolled so as to have a grain running in the direction of the arrow G. In the example here shown and described-end this is only by way of example, and not by way of limitation-the arm or bar 7 is 3 inches in thickness, 6 inches in width, and 22 inches in length. It has cut therein a pair of radially spaced-apart recesses or openings 15, 16, for cooperation with lugs on the bat 8, as hereinafter to be described. For simplicity of manufacture, the recesses may take the form of slots or holes all the way through the arm, which may be made by gas-cutting, after which the arm may be stress-relieved and fully annealed.

The inboard aperture 15 in this embodiment has a radial dimension of about twice the transverse dimension; while the outboard aperture 16 may be of similar dimensions at the leading face 17 of the arm but of greater radial dimension at the trailing face (as shown), so that it has atits outer end a tapered surface 18 (forming an acute 'angle with said surface 17 and adapted for cooperation with a corresponding surface 19 of the lug 20 of the hat 8, whereby a centrifugal interlock between said parts is provided.

The bat 8, in addition to having the lug 20 (of the configuration just described) which is of a maximum radial dimension not exceeding the radial dimension of the inlet end of the slot 16, also has a lug 21 at its inboard end, and'the bat and lug have an oblique end face 22 sloping oppositely to the face 19, said face 22- cooperating with a correspondingly sloping face 23 of the wedge member 9.

The radial spacing between lugs 20 and 21 is made enough greater than the spacing S (Fig. 4) between the slots and 16 that when the bat 8 is in its locked position on the arm (as best shown in Fig. 3) there will be a little clearance between the surface 21a and the surface 155! so that the surfaces 15 and 19 will be in tight, locked engagement; and also suificiently great so that, when the wedging mechanism is removed and the surface 20a is brought up against the surface 16a, the corner 19a of the bat 8 will clear the corner 18a of the arm member for purposes of assembly and disassembly.

The bat 8 is preferably a hard cast steel member (for example a .50 to a .60 carbon steel), which will wear well against abrasion, and be cheaply replaceable when finally worn; and in order to increase its useful life and to provide adequate mass at the region of major impact, it is substantially thickened by virtue of the sloping walls 24, 24a, which provide a tapering increase in thickness which reaches its maximum at the outboard region 25, at the side nearest the feed passage F. Additional strength, weight, and wear resistance are provided by the flange 26 which projects from the inner face 27 of the bat in a position to overlie that edge of the rotor arm which is at the feed side of the rotor. The arm is cut back or shouldered at 30 to accommodate the flange 26.

In some machines, a shear bar B is located (as seen in Figs. 1 and 2) adjacent the point where the incoming material is struck by the beater arms or bats, and in such an installation the flange 26 of the bat passes adjacent to the shear bar and helps to take the brunt of the shearing action of any lumps which happen to enter between the bar 13 and the rapidly turning rotor. I

It will now be apparent that when the hat 8 is assembled with the arm 7, the drawing up of the wedge 9 by the bolt and nut 28, 29 (against the reaction plate 31, which may be welded in place as shown, across the rear end of the slot15) will force the bat 3 into the position shown in Figure 3 and hold it tightly there. The wedging mechanism functions in a plane generally perpendicular to the action of centrifugal force, and is subjected to very little load. The centrifugal load on the bat itself is transferred to the arm 7 by the surfaces 19 and 18, which because of their obliquity hold the inner surface 27 of the bat firmly against the leading surface 17 of the arm. Any relative dislodgment of the arm and bat axially of the rotor is of course prevented by the lugs 2t) and 21 which fit in the slots 16 and 15 respectively. Even if some clearance is left between the sides of the lugs and the sides of the slots (either by design or by manufacturing tolerance or inaccuracies) the flange 26 of the bat prevents relative dislodgment thereof from the arm due to impact of the material coming into the path of the rotor at F, or cut off at the shear bar B.

The material and construction of the rotor arms are such as to provide a high degree of strength as against torsional and centrifugal loads; the material and construe tion of the bats are such as to provide a high degree of wear resistance; and the configuration and assembly of these parts, together with the wedge assemblies, are such as to facilitate assembly, disassembly and repair, and to give a maximum of security and safety in operation.

I claim:

1. A rotor arm memberhaving, at radially spacedapart points, apertures configured to receive lugs of a rotor bat, one of said apertures being formed with an oblique outer-end wall making an acute angle, outboard thereof, with the leading face of the arm, and each said aperture being formed respectively with a clearance space for use in inserting and withdrawing rotor bat lugs by direct angular movements toward and away from said leading face.

2. The arm member of claim 1 having, asseciated with one only of the apertures, a plate element of a bat-locking assembly.

3. The arm member of claim 1 having a longitudinal cut-out along its side edge, in position to receive a bat flange.

4. A rotor bat member having, at radially spaced-apart points, two securing lugs adapted to cooperate with an arm member, one of said lugs having an oblique face forming an acute angle, outboard thereof, with the trailing face of the bat member, whereby to form a centrifugal interlock with a coacting face of a cooperating arm, and the other having a sloping surface adapted to interlock with a wedge.

5. The construction of claim 4 wherein the latter surface is formed at the inboard end of the bat member.

6. The bat member of claim 5, wherein the latter surface is of obliquity opposite to that first mentioned.

7, The bat member of claim 4 having a substantially thickened body of maximum thickness at one edge only of the outboard region.

8. The bat member of claim 4 having a single longitudinal side-edge flange projecting from its trailing face.

9. The construction of claim 8 having a substantially thickened body in an outboard corner region adiacent said flange.

10. A rotor of the character described comprising, for association with a rotor shaft, rotor arm structure torsionally interlockable with said shaft and including a plurality of arms, a plurality of bats each centrifugally interlocked with an arm, each arm having a pair of recesses which are radially spaced apart and each bat having a pair of lugs disposed in the recesses of the arm with which it is associated, the radially outermost recess and lug of each cooperating arm and bat having sloping faces engaging in a plane forming an acute angle with the leading face of the arm outboard of said plane, and wedging mechanism interposed between each arm and its associated bat and adjustable in aplane substantially erpendicular to the action of centrifugal force on said rotor, said wedging mechanism for each arm and bat comprising a wedge having an obliqque face coacting with a corresponding face on the inboard lug of said bat disposed in a plane forming an obtuse angle with the leading face of said arm outboard of said plane.

11. A rotor comprising an arm member having, at radially spaced-apart points, apertures configured to receive lugs of a rotor'bat, one of said apertures being formed with an oblique outer-end wall making an acute angle, outboard thereof, with the leading face of the arm, and a bat member having at radially spaced-apart points a pair ofsecuring lugs adapted to cooperate with said apertures of the arm member, one of said lugs having an oblique face forming an acute angle, outboard thereof, with the trailing face of the bat member, whereby to form a centrifugal interlock with the coactin'g oblique outer-end wall of one of said apertures of said arm member, and means securing the other of said lugs in the other of said apertures, whereby the assembly is leaked to ether.

12-. The construction of claim ll, wherein said bat member is of hard, durable metal, and said arm member is of high-tensile-strength metal plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 795,133 Johnson c .luly 18, 1905 1,186,071 Bledsoe r- June 6 1916 1,630,021 Lucas May 24, 19 27 2,392,958 Tice Jan. 15, i946 2,551,862 Woock et al. May 8, i 2,605,972 Le Blane Aug. 5, i952 FOREIGN PATENTS 342,605 Great Britain Feb. 12, 1931 475,430 Great Britain Nov. 19, 193 7 654,953 France e Dec. 7, 1928 712,771 Germany Oct. 24, l94l 

